There were a few newsworthy pieces out of Blue Jays camp this afternoon as the team heads to Clearwater for a night game. The most important piece of news came when the lineup was posted, and a familiar face was back in it at shortstop:
#BlueJays vs #Phillies pic.twitter.com/Y04Gamfdl5
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) March 25, 2016
After being hit in the hand by an errant Bartolo Colon pitch on Wednesday afternoon, Troy Tulowitzki is healthy and will be playing tonight. This is definitely a good sign; sometimes, with hand injuries, the swelling can hide a partial fracture in one of the bones from the first x-ray. That obviously isn’t the case with Tulowitzki, as the swelling has gone down enough for him to play and he’s feeling no apparent discomfort.
The second piece of news is that left handed reliever Aaron Loup will open the season on the disabled list, retroactive to March 26th.
Loup starts season on DL – and DL starts March 26, so it could be retro to that date
— mark zwolinski (@markzwol) March 25, 2016
He was shut down earlier in camp with forearm tightness and has yet to get in a spring game. This paves the way for one of Pat Venditte or Randy Choate to make the team as the second lefty in the bullpen behind Brett Cecil, with the obvious advantage going to Choate (one of the greatest LOOGY’s in MLB history). The Loup transaction makes the bullpen picture a lot clearer, as does these three moves the club made this afternoon:
#BlueJays say David Aardsma, Chad Girodo and Chad Jenkins reassigned to minor-lg camp, 44 players remain.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) March 25, 2016
Aardsma is the only one of the three who really had a shot at making the club out of Spring Training, and he may still get a chance at the big league team in the next couple of months before he has a chance to opt out in May. The competition for the last two bullpen spots is now down to Steve Delabar, Ryan Tepera, Joe Biagini, Arnold Leon, and Gavin Floyd/Aaron Sanchez. The other five spots will be taken up by Drew Storen, Roberto Osuna, Brett Cecil, Jesse Chavez, and one of Pat Venditte or Randy Choate. Although it is also possible Venditte grabs one of the empty spots if he loses to Choate.
The last bit of news concerns Edwin Encarnacion’s health. He has yet to play this Spring Training due to an abscessed tooth and an oblique injury, but that may change soon:
Edwin Encarnacion plans to play in minor-league game Monday. Hit in the cage today. Says oblique feels fine. #BlueJays
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) March 25, 2016
The decision to play in a minor league game is an obvious one because he’ll still be able to be placed on the major league disabled list (retroactive to March 26th) if he doesn’t get into a big league game before hand. Thus, playing EE in minor league games until he is comfortable with his bat will likely be the route that the team takes. However, it doesn’t seem that it may take too long, as he told Barry Davis that it doesn’t matter how many at bats he gets in the spring, because if he is healthy come Opening Day, he’ll be in the lineup.
Lead Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports